UC 0094 : Advent Of The (Second) Red Comet
by 000TragicSolitude
Summary: A year after Neo-Zeon's defeat against the Federation and the disappearance of its leader in the Axis Shock, a lone Zeon ship is tasked with the mission to capture a powerful prototype mobile suit for the use of a mysterious man called The Second Coming of Char Aznable, who intends to rally what remains of Neo-Zeon once again.
1. Chapter 1

**UNIVERSAL CENTURY 0094**

**SIDE 3**

The _Musaka_-class space cruiser with the designiation _Ottoman_ waited amidst the area of Side 3, home to the Federation-influenced Republic of Zeon – it had made a rendezvous with a leftover _Endra_-class cruiser, as it supplied with the _Ottoman_ with two additional mobile suits for the upcoming mission that was described as crucial to the cause of the continuation of Neo-Zeon's fight against the Federation. The revived Neo-Zeon had fallen into a state of disarray last year, so the priority was to reorganize and regroup instead of foolishly trying to counterattack the Federation.

Nikolai looked upon his mobile suit in maintenance, the sturdy AMS-119 Geara Doga that was the standard mobile suit of Neo-Zeon's forces – he was one of three of the cruiser's MS pilots, although he couldn't say that he considered himself much of a pilot in the first place. His comrade that outlived him by only a year, Rana, watched her own Geara Doga with the same vengeful, yet motivated look in her hazel eyes that he usually saw her with.

"Aren't you a bit nervous ?" He asked out of her blue in hopes in achievement small talk, "This time, we're not getting any backup if anything goes wrong, like if we're up against a Federation fleet."

"I don't need to hear that from a runt who's never actually been in combat before," Rana dismissed him as usual, "I'll do whatever it takes to make the Federation bleed."

He didn't know why Rana's hatred for the Federation was so strong, but he wouldn't dare to bring it up to her out of fear of alienating her even further. That encompassing hatred that gave off that aura of coldness was probably the reason he couldn't ever really connect with her. It was also true that he never participated in combat – he simply didn't get the chance to, but Rana got the opportunity to express her anger out during the battle around Axis for a short moment before the fight halted.

"That's a bit harsh, Rana," An older male voice said, "I figured you could get along with him by now."

Garret was the ship's third MS pilot of forty-five years of age, the guiding light of Nikolai and Rana who were no more than raw recruits in their early-twenties. The bukly man served in the former Principality, making him a hardened pilot and a sort of father figure to the two young soldiers. He used to pilot the Geara Doga, but after sustaining heavy damage at the fight near Earth and being abandoned, what stood behind him to replace it was a currently limited-production model of the newer and more refined AMS-129 Geara Zulu supplied by the other ship. Like the Doga, it was intentionally reminiscent of the old Principality's Zaku.

"Besides, the three of us will be acting as backup, so I don't want to see any wild stunts from either you. It's only a small job, anyway."

The mention of being "backup" made Nikolai want to bring up something; a _Musaka_-class had the capacity to carry four mobile suits, and what occupied the fourth spot in the hangar was a Geara Doga that came from the other ship. The peculiar detail was that its paintjob was in shades of crimson.

"So, we'll be backup to whoever's in that ?" He said, pointing at the red Doga.

"Right. I'm not too sure about this operation, but the Commander's going through with it because of that pilot."

"I guess that means he must be pretty good," Rana remarked, not particularly intrigued, but Garret seemed to know more than he let on.

Nikolai couldn't but think of one thing when seeing the mysterious Doga; that particular color scheme was a trait of Char Aznable. At first, it reminded him of how he admired mobile suits in his childhood days, especially for the ace pilots that controlled them – The Red Comet, The White Wolf, The Nightmare of Solomon, and The Crimson Lighting, names that inspired both fear and awe. His father had been a pilot fighting for the future of spacenoids too – in a way, he inherited his father's job, but the reverence that those ace pilots received was also a motivator for him.

And yet, this was followed by a feeling of hopelessness and doubt, as Char was beacon of light for spacenoids, which was why he was worshipped by his revived Neo-Zeon movement. Nikolai felt that fighting for a Neo-Zeon led by Char was a heroic cause in the name of the people of space abused by authority for so long, even if it was soured for him because of the attempted dropping of Axis on Earth in the end.

He sensed that the absence of that unifying figure also had an affect on Rana, Garret and the rest of the crew, as well as the miracle that pushed back the asteroid from Earth. He heard of other members of Neo-Zeon who had simply abandoned the fight after that incident a year back. Judging by how drained Garret seemed to be, maybe he was considering that option too. Nikolai couldn't deny that he might've felt the same thing.

"Sir … " He addressed Garret, "What's going to happen to Neo-Zeon from now on ?"

Garret, surprised at the sudden question, quietly sighed after a moment and reassuringly put his artificial metal hand that he had lost on Earth on his subordinate's soldier. "I don't really know, to be honest. Whatever the case, I know I'll still have to look out for you two. That's enough for now."

"It's enough for you," Rana murmured, "What's enough for me is that I can still fight."

…

Commander Duncan Duller sat in the bridge's command chair, indulging in his old-fashioned smoke pipe. The somewhat stubby man in his seventies usually found himself worried about a given mission, but not this time, as years of Zeon's continued defeats had beaten it all out of him. Garret Garland joined the bridge, standing at attention.

"I hear you received your new mobile suit," He addressed the pilot, "How are your youngsters holding up ?"

"They're on edge, obviously."

Duncan and Garret did have a habit of concerning themselves quite a lot with their subordinates. After all, they were the only veterans onboard the cruiser, those who fought for Zeon since the early days, while the rest of the crew were those of the current generation that joined the revived Neo-Zeon because they were swayed by Char.

"I can't blame them," The commander quietly said, "There isn't much to be glad about after last year. Anyhow, the Anaheim transport's already left Granada. We'll intercept it soon before it gets to Von Braun."

The objective would be to capture an experimental and powerful mobile suit developed by Anaheim Electronics – it departed from the lunar city of Granada, former headquarters of Kycilia Zabi's forces, now acting again as a Federation base as it did before the One-Year War after the treaty between them and the restored Republic of Zeon was signed there. It was supposed to arrive from Granada to Von Braun, somewhere where Anaheim worked on development of MS. Once the MS is obtained, the _Ottoman_ would move to the civilian mining asteroid known as Palau along with other Neo-Zeon survivors.

Garret's new Geara Zulu had been supplied by Anaheim itself, but the company took contracts from both Zeon remnants and the Federation for its benefit – this particular project was in cooperation with the Federation, so they wouldn't simply hand it over to Zeon. But the secret MS was meant to be used by a special pilot, the one who would lead Garret's team in his crimson Geara Doga.

"That man," Garret wanted to ask about that particular pilot that troubled him and the Commander, "They call him the second coming of Char. What exactly is he, sir ?"

"You can think of him as a near-perfect copy of Char, from what I understand," Duncan let out a puff from his pipe, "From the perspective of the men that created him, Neo-Zeon cannot continue its existence without Char as a leading figure. That man's purpose is to be that mythical hero to lead us again."

"I just don't understand it," Garret pondered, "Even his voice … It's almost as if he was possessed by the ghost of Char."

Nothing was known about the man that was Char's "copy." He had simply appeared as a tool to uphold the moral of what remained of Neo-Zeon and its supporters, to keep them all together like Char did. Duncan sensed that Garret was conflicted about such a man, and he felt the same.

"Regardless of his origins, I've grown quite tired over the years," Duncan spoke honestly, "After watching the Principality slowly crumble apart into squabbling remnants for so long, I placed my faith in Char to bring our ideals to life. Now that he failed and we're simply trying to survive again, dedicating myself to a mere copy seems foolish."

Garret had nothing to say, but he understood and felt he shared the Commander's sentiments. However, Neo-Zeon's members had already placed their trust in that man out of desperation, and it wasn't hard to understand why. Even Princess Mineva Lao Zabi, the heir to the Principality that was beloved by all, had done the same thing. Despite their grievances, Garret and Duncan didn't seem to have much of a choice but to follow along as well.

"He works in his own fashion," Duncan remembered it was almost time, "And he's quite talented, it seems, so your team likely won't have to do much as support, but Anaheim probably has a mobile suit escort of its own. Stay on guard."

"Yes, sir," Garret saluted with his fake hand and departed to the hangar – perhaps some would follow that salute with the infamous chant, _Sieg Zeon_, but given the aura of anguish among the crew of the _Ottoman_, it seemed to be in bad taste to do such a thing now.

…

The second generation of mobile suits possessed the feature of an advanced cockpit view – that is, it revealed all the surroundings around the pilot in the command chair, so Nikolai was encompassed by the void of space wherever he looked, with the exception of Rana's unit to his right and Garret's Zulu to his left.

The trio had positioned themselves "above" the Anaheim transport where the ship looked somewhat small from that distance, but it was still at least half the size of their _Musaka_-class. Nikolai's Doga was converted into the heavy armament type; a backpack with two large propellant tanks that provided increased thrust, but the main reason for the conversion was the large Lange Bruno gun. The long-range beam weapon could easily tear apart the transport, but Garret trusted him to use it once the target's mobile suit escort came out.

"_Where's the red Doga already ?_" Nikolai thought and his hands shivered out of nervousness as he watched the _Ottoman_ tail the transport. Shooting it might result in its destruction, so the cruiser had deployed Minosky particles to hamper the transport instead.

The MS escort came out of the transport, although their size was akin to that of birds from this distance – he spotted seven so far, green and blue MSA-003 Nemo units produced by Anaheim itself during the Gryps Conflict. They vaguely resembled the Federation's GM.

"The red Doga's late," Rana's nerve broke, "I'm going in !"

"Rana, no !"

Rana's Doga bolted straight towards the nest of Nemo units.

"Nik, stay put and take 'em out with the beam cannon," Garret hastily ordered, "I'm not letting her go alone !"

"Roger," Nikolai zoomed into the engament zone with his cockpit interface, Rana and Garret flew around the Nemo units that encircled the transport, avoiding fire. He focused on Rana, who flew straight ahead into one of the seven enemy MS and pummeled into him like a bull, grabbing him by his shoulders and unloading her beam machine gun straight into his chest, leaving him in burning smoke. Nikolai's heart sank.

He switched his focus to a stationary Nemo, trying to hit his comrades with his beam rifle. This was his first true dive into combat. It would've been so easy to blow him away with his long-range beam weapon, like the one that Rana blasted away without second thought or mercy, as if he was a doll. One just had to forget that mobile suits are piloted by humans, isn't that right ?

And yet he found breathing heavily, unable to shoot. Was that Nemo's pilot in a similar state, especially after he watched his teammate die so quickly ? Nikolai tried to find an excuse not to shoot – these escorts were amateurs, akin to himself, he could let Rana and Garret take it from here, right ?

"_That's not it_," He lamented to himself, "_I didn't get to fight last year because I just got left out. I just didn't want to fight like this. I wasn't made for this. I can't be the Red Comet."_

The Nemo was still in his targeting scope, but he quickly moved to aim his legs instead. Surely, the pilot would live, as he would simply float away before Rana or Garrant could get to him. He fired, watching as the Nemo's bottom was obliterated in an instant flash, leaving him slowly floating without any control.

He breathed a sigh of relief for a moment before beams flashed before him – a lone Nemo had broken away from the rest and gunned it straight towards Nikolai, closing the distance between them at a rapid pace. It didn't give the Zeon pilot the chance to use the Lange Bruno gun.

The Nemo fired eratically as Nikolai hastily attempted to fly away from him, trying to dodge his shots - the Doga's increased thrust wasn't enough to compensate for Nikolai's skill, the Nemo managed to hit one of the propellant tanks, making the Doga loose control. Nikolai spun around, struggling to think.

"_Damn it, damn it !_" He struggled to regain control in the face of the Nemo, with the only option he though he had left was the Sturm Faust. The warhead was powerful, but unguided – The Doga's shield carries a rack of four of these missiles that could be fired directly, so the Zeon pilot pointed the shield at the Doga and unleashed the red warhead.

Even if the Sturm Faust was unguided, perhaps it was enough at this distance to blow the enemy away, yet the blast that engulfed his field of vision was only a false hope. From the remnants of the blast, a concentrated yellowish blade of plasma appeared in the hands of the enemy MS. The Nemo, with only its left arm and shoulder blown apart, charged at his opponent with a beam saber in its other hand to finish what he started.

Nikolai froze, unable to do anything but stare as the Nemo would cut him down in an instant. A vision flashed before his eyes, he thought he could see the miracle of Axis before him again – it was followed by an image of his younger sister that was not only calming, but even divine.

But that image was broken by some sort of red blitz, a flash of crimson that was too fast to be identified. Whatever it was, it blazed through the Nemo, slashing its chest apart and leaving a burning husk behind. Nikolai didn't understand at first, but he noticed that the fighting had stopped. The Anaheim transport was at the mercy of the _Ottoman, _with Rana and Garret safely flying around the prey. There were no enemy MS to be found, so had they taken them all out in that short amount of time ?

He realized that he was still flying without any control with a blown up propellant tank, unsure of what happened. He could've still regained control of his unit regardless of that, but he did nothing. At that moment, something had gripped his own MS – it pulled him out of his shock, the crimson Geara Doga had appeared and grabbed Nikolai's unit to stop him from flying uncontrollably. Everything before that now made sense, as it was the red Doga that saved Nikolai's life.

Because Nikolai was still unresponsive, his saviour gently dragged him along back to the ship. A comm channel had suddenly opened between him and the red MS, "Your tenacity is admirable, Ensign Zolkov, but sacrificing yourself here wouldn't do any good."

Something seemed strange. The young pilot thought his mind was playing tricks on him. The voice that addressed him sounded like that of Char Aznable's.

…


	2. Chapter 2

Nikolai had lost track of time in his bunk room, instead he was only capable of replaying the events of the raid on the Anaheim transport; the uneasiness of outer space, the stress of mobile suit combat, and the feeling that he was definitely going to die, yet was saved by what sounded like an apparition of Char Aznable. The man was real and so was his likeness to Char, however, and everyone had seen him in the MS hangar. The man referred to as the "Captain" had paid no mind to anyone, instead going back to the bridge to meet up with Commander Duncan.

Nikolai was puzzled, confused – Rana clearly felt something more intense, like she was seeing a ghost. Nikolai admired The Red Comet, but he was a hero to Rana. He wanted to talk to just talk to her, but when he got to her closed bunk cabin, all he heard behind the door was a replay of Char's discourse at the Sweet Water colony last year, leaving him to wonder if Rana was listening to it on repeat.

" … _This is the true purpose behind our operation to drop Axis onto Earth, to change history ! Hence, we will discipline the people who continue to live on Earth and eliminate the source of any wars in Earth's Sphere !_"

Garret knocking on his door pulled the Ensign out of his grim contemplation. He questioned his subordinate to make sure he was okay, and Nikolai assured him that he was fine enough.

"We'll be moving to Palau," He said, "Everyone's received a call to rendezvous there."

He already heard that a location to serve as a base of operations was chosen, but he didn't think it would Palau. Garret picked up on the surprise on his face.

"Palau ?"

"Is something wrong ?"

"No, it's just …" He stumbled, "My sister's there."

It wasn't illogical to flee to Palau. The asteroid belonging to Side 6 did have sympathies to Zeon. After their father went away to fulfill his duty to Zeon only to never return, the Zolkov siblings moved fled from Side 3 to save themselves from the looming threat of the Federation, and Palau accepted them. It had been easier to tell themselves over the years that their father had died in combat, but he Nikolai couldn't help it – when the call to arms from Char's Neo-Zeon came, Nikolai to honor their father, but back then, he was also looking to make a name for himself. He foolishly believed he could be The Red Comet. Taya warned him of this, yet he didn't listen to her.

"_Why do you have to throw your life too ? Why does any of this matter ?_"

Her sister tried to stop, but he foolishly made her cry. Garret stood silent for a moment, but maybe he understood what Nikolai could be feeling, but he didn't know if Garret had any family left himself.

"I see," He said, "You should be happy to see her again. You'll be safe with her. Family's a precious thing. I wanted to talk to Rana too, but I don't think she would want to hear about family anytime soon."

He wondered what Garret meant, but his superior went back to business, "Anyway, try to rest up, but don't get too comfortable in case any trouble comes up. Tell Rana to do the same, okay ?"

He spent some time alone in that room after Garret left, but felt that moving could refresh him. He went out in the corridors, gently floating without any real destination. Out of the blue, he came across Rana. They stopped to look at each other for a moment – the expression in the brown-haired girl's eyes made her seem groggy, as if she was crying earlier, but the dark-haired boy realized he didn't look any less dazed.

"Are you okay ?"

"Sure," She said with a neutral tone, "I guess."

"You know, you were great out there," He tried to break her walls again, "I wish I could've been like that. It's like you weren't scared at all."

"I couldn't do anything," She looked down, "The Captain showed up and mopped the enemy up himself. I suppose the only thing that matters is that you got out alive."

She quickly passed and went on her away without looking at him, leaving him alone to ponder on that last somewhat supportive remark. Maybe she grew a little tired of focusing on her enigmatic rage on the Federation, he thought.

…

"The Federation seems to be determined to track us down."

Commander Fuller voiced his remark, with Garret at his side. Staring at into the void of space, Captain Full Frontal contemplated their next course of action. It had been a day in Earth time since the raid on Anaheim, but the crew had picked up the presence of two of the Federation's new Clop-class cruisers that were intending to intercept the _Ottoman _neara debris field.

"The mobile suit we have acquired is more important than we could've imagined," The voice of Char calmly spoke, "Not simply because of its advanced technology, but more so the way the Federation wishes to use it for their own purposes."

"If that's so, I would expect our pursuers to be apart of Londo Bell," Duncan said with a hint of veneration, "Only they could move that fast."

"Regardless, we have no choice to eliminate them now, or else they will determine that are destination is Palau. If that occurs and they managed to catch us, not only would they take the captured Anaheim prize back, but the Federation will no doubt assemble a force to strike on our weakened forces at Palau."

That had been a correct point, Garret thought, but the _Endra_-class cruiser that currently housed the captured MS had long since become a transport and had no real combat capability at this point. That meant that the _Ottoman_ would face to the fight two Federation vessels alone. Not only that, the four Zeon pilots would possibly be facing eight experienced enemy MS, if the complement of the _Clop_-class ships was full, and it most likely was. Full Frontal did finish off the escort of seven Nemo suits largely on his own, but this was different.

"With respect, we don't have much of a chance if we attack them head on," Garret spoke out about his concerns, "My pilots can't handle that, and neither can this ship."

"I'm afraid that I have to agree," Duncan said grimly, "The _Ottoman_ is a sturdy ship, but this is a difficult situation."

"I understand your concerns, but Commander Duncan, along with your pilots, could keep the attention of the enemy ships and mobile suits from afar in the debris field, which would allow me to strike them with our captured weapon."

"You mean it's ready to use ?"

"Yes, Commander, the Sinanju is operational. I may not be able to demonstrate its full potential just yet, but it should be enough for this battle. Although, the color isn't really my style."

There was no doubt in the man's blue eyes, only total confidence in his abilities, but Garret wasn't totally convinced that one new and expensive MS would be enough, even with its pilot. Full Frontal seemed to sense his continued doubt.

"I am not asking you or your young pilots to sacrifice themselves," The spitting image of Char said, "I will draw the danger to myself; as a vessel, that is what I can do."

"They enemy's going to intercept us anyway," Duncan gave in with a puff of his pipe, "Its better to fight on our own terms. We'll await your deployement in the Sinanju once the time comes. I suppose you know what to do, Garret."

"Yes, sir," He kept the regret in his voice to a minimum, "I'll get them ready."

…

The pair of _Clop_-class enemy vessels rapidly approached, while the _Ottoman_ emerged from the debris field to face them, with its trio of mobile suits leading the strike. Both Nikolai and Rana's Doga units were turned into heavy armament types, while Garret had to work with the beam machine gun of his Zulu.

The sight of a fully-prepared Federation attack force was no doubt terrifying, but Nikolai gathered his composure. The enemy had already deployed their MS - state-of-the-art RGM-89 Jegan units, eight in total. Four had broken off to head towards the Zeon cruiser which began firing upon the Federation vessels, while the others made their way in the direction of Garret's team.

Rana's Lange Bruno fired off first, blasting through the chest of the farthest Jegan. Another one was in Nikolai's sights – it fired at him, and his beam weapon fired back, but the pilot was prepared. With grace, the enemy avoided the shot and continued closing the distance between them.

Nikolai wouldn't freeze again; both pilots promptly decided to take the offensive, as Nikolai fired a Sturm Faust warhead from his shield as he accelerated towards his enemy, while the Jegan did the same after launching a pair of small missiles from his own shield. A missile and the Sturm Faust warhead collapsed against each other in a bright flash, but the remaining enemy missile flew past it towards the Doga.

In the split-second before it reached him, Nikolai had the instinct to cover himself with the shield attached to his left forearm without decreasing his speed – the impact shattered the shield and shook his entire mobile suit, but he wouldn't stop.

He had his suit's beam sword-axe in hand, charging at the Jegan that seemed to have became disorientated in the second following the collision of the missiles. Nikolai took advantage of the opportunity to strike; he screamed and swung his beam melee weapon at the Jegan's head – the weapon had swiftly cut it in half. The blinded Jegan flew away, but Nikolai was caught off guard as Rana had shot down the now harmless Jegan. In that moment, he remembered that a living person was in that suit.

His attention was turned to a distant flash that flew right towards one of the Federation ships – he zoomed in, identifying the flying object as the captured MSN-06S Sinanju Stein. The fearsome and warrior-like prototype MS in grey and white moved with perfect fluency because of the flexible thrusters on its legs and back.

The suit, piloted by Captain Full Frontal, was chased by three Jegan units, yet they struggled to keep up with him. Nikolai watched in amazement as the incredible speed of the Sinanju didn't impact the Captain's movement, he instinctively dodged their concentrated fire with seemingly no struggle.

While doing so, the Captain spun around and quickly fired back at the pursuers with a Geara Doga's beam machine gun. Had Nikolai blinked, he would've missed one of the enemy chasers get taken down and explode into nothing, but the other two were unfazed.

"The Captain's alone," He called out to Garret, "Shouldn't we support him ?"

"He can handle it," Garret said without much concern. His teammates had eliminated two Jegan units, while the last one had retreated. The _Clop_-class closer to Garret's team opened fire on them, forcing them to act – Garret instructed that they would repeatedly circle over the enemy cruiser while firing upon key points.

The trio dodged and fired back as best as they could when faced against the enemy ship's two-barrel main beam guns, defensive guns and missiles launchers. Nikolai couldn't focus his large Lange Bruno gun in the face of heavy fire. He felt the instinct to look back, and was met by the sight of the other _Clop_-class; it was burning, collapsing from heavy damage.

Full Frontal's Sinanju Stein emerged again, completely unscathed. Garret ordered Nikolai to fire upon the defensive guns – the grey MS flew over and did the job for him, taking out the turrets with his beam machine gun and vulcan guns.

The Captain kept up the momentum, blazing past the ship's guns at a high speed and shooting them down one by one. He was like a wasp circling around its target, quickly stinging where he could. He performed a spin again, unleashing a Sturm Faust warhead upon part of the enemy vessel's engines.

The way he moved, it seemed familiar to Zolkov. He remembred watching visual reenactments of Char Aznable's performance during the Battle of Loum in the opening stages of the Zeonic War for Independence, in which the man had destroyed multiple _Magellan_-class Federation warships by himself. Full Frontal disappeared beneath the rapidly burning ship and emerged in front of its mobile suit deck, realizing a final warhead directly at the bridge, resulting in obliteration.

Nikolai had stopped firing at this point, but his amazement was broken by grunts of pain from Rana and Garret's cry for her. Zolkov saw Rana's Doga busted and scorched; her leg and her left side was blown away, so was her shield.

The final Jegan – Rana's attacker was deadly, perhaps the leader of this strike force's MS team, instantly taking advantage of Nikolai's horror of the grave strike on Rana, had already deployed the pair of missiles from his shield. The missiles must've been guided, and the Zeon pilot had no chance to anticipate them.

Multiple points of his Doga were hit, along his torso – it was enough to blow him away, but his MS violently rocked and fresh blood gushed out of his mouth from sort of violent impact. The view from his cockpit was cracked in certain corners, but he could the Jegan with a beam saber in hand. He saw beam machine gun, probably from Garret's Zulu, but the final Jegan ignored it and pressed forward towards Nikolai's Doga to finish it off.

Strangely, this time, he felt nothing at the anticipation of death, nor did he see any vision of the most important in his life before he would be sent to the afterlife. He wanted to close his eyes, but his suit rocked again from the side – he had watched Rana's Doga pushed him away with its remaining hand, leaving her in the path of the beam saber's wing.

"Rana !"

Just for a moment, as if time had slowed down, he thought he witnessed an apparition of Rana leaving him with a goodbye in her eyes before her Geara Doga was swept away by the energy of the beam saber, making her vanish into oblivion. All that remained before that was a light.

He flew further away from the light, feeling that he was slowly loosing consciousness. Before he fell into slumber, he caught a glimpse of Captain Full Frontal's devilish Sinanju Stein with the burning remains of the Federation ship behind him, but come to the rescue far too late.


	3. Chapter 3

" … _I've given everything up in order to help achieve a future for us people abandoned in space, but these years of warfare have brought nothing to me but sorrow for those that I've lost under my command without any meaning, and now the same has happened to Ensign Rana. I realize now that Zeon in this current, limping form cannot bring true change, nor could it do so in the past._"

"_If there ever was a possibility for spacenoids to blossom, that possibility that humans could come to understand each other without misconceptions, then perhaps it has died with Zeon Zum Deikun long ago. I began to believe that Char Aznable was our only hope, yet now he is replaced with a mere shadow of our past leader. I can no longer fight for such a cause that I know will bring true harmony to us. That is why I am leaving this ship and this endless war until my final quiet days go by, and I wouldn't blame anyone else for choosing to do the same._"

Commander Duncan Fuller left his crew with such last words once they had arrived at Palau, intending to go back to the Republic of Zeon of Side 3, even implying that he considered turning himself in to the Federation for his service in Zeon remnants over the years. Garret had opened up as he and Nikolai thought about Rana.

"_It was the massacre of Globe City in Side 3 that made her way we knew her_," He said with sorrow, "_Her parents had sent her away before that out of fear, but it was inevitable that she would find out about it, and that's why she dedicated her life to destroying the Federation_."

But Nikolai knew that something awakened in her besides hatred, and it manifested itself clearly before she gave her life for him. The Captain was seemed somewhat regretful over her fate as well, briefly addressing him in person after the operation, "_With time, I'm sure you could develop your potential as a pilot."_

In regards that, Nikolai wanted to know if Garret would choose the same path as the Commander.

"_Oh, no, I'll have to keep fighting some more_," He spoke casually, "_There's no real place for me to go back to even if I wanted to leave all this, but you do. You've still got family left, you know._"

Garret had pulled a few strings to discharge Nikolai out of service, not because he didn't think the boy was not suited to be a pilot, but because he couldn't stand to see him loosing his life like Rana did.

Nikolai was thankful, as Taya starred at him with tears in her eyes, as if she was seeing a dead man come back to life. She embraced him, and he did the same.

"_You're such an idiot_," she had said, "But _you're alright, that's all that matters_."

**UNIVERSAL CENTURY 0095 **

**PALAU **

Garret Garland, Spotter Sys and Zechst Ade stood at attention, led by Lieutenant Angelo Sauper as part of Captain Full Frontal's Royal Guard unit. Garret had been apart of operations to secure resources for Neo-Zeon, mostly in the form of additional mobile suits, but he also found himself assisting Captain Zinnerman and Lieutenant Marida Cruz. He had developed an amicable enough relation with Zinnerman, although he couldn't say the same for the mysterous and cold subordinate that called him "Master."

Full Frontal had made his entrance into his new grand room that was modeled after a similar royal-like chamber formely located at A Baoa Qu, as the governor-general of Palau was sympathetic to the former Principality. The banners of both Neo-Zeon and the Principality were hung across the wall behind the Captain's desk.

"_Ensign Rana's death was certainly unfortunate_," Garret remembered the man's remark last year, but now he was clad in a mask to cement his status as the second coming of Char Aznable, and the birth of the "Sleeves."


End file.
